Read Online Badland Bride by Lauri Robinson - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Lauri Robinson
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unusual just to leave it behind?
He laid the cloth across the back of the saddle on her horse. Without a word he tied the reins of his horse together and flipped the loop over the animal's long neck.
She gave him a quizzical look. Surely he wasn't going to ride completely bareback.
He stepped forward and lifted her onto the saddle. Both of her legs hung over one side. “I'll ride behind you for awhile. That way you can sit like this, and perhaps rest a bit.” His hands patted her knees.
Her butt was tremendously sore, and the change of position felt good. “What about your horse?” More than willing to try the new arrangement, she pulled the flip-flops off her feet and hung them on the saddle horn by the bandana wrapped thongs.
"He'll follow."
"I wish you lived in two-thousand-eight,” she admitted.
Skeeter laughed, climbing up behind her. “After all the things you've told me, I have to admit, I like the eighteen hundreds just fine."
He settled in and reached around to take the reins. Lila let her head rest against his chest. “I think I must have only told you about the bad things. There are some wonderful modern conveniences."
His free hand massaged her bare shoulder and arm, the rough skin of his fingertips lightly scratched the area. The action made her close her eyes, and a sigh of pleasure emptied her lungs.
"Why don't you tell me about some of them as we ride the last few miles?” he asked.
"Hmm, let's see, oh, I know. Many people have what we call hot tubs or whirlpools. They are big bath tubs that two, three, even as many as ten people can sit in all at the same time, and hot, bubbling water swirls around, easing all the aches and pains from your body.” Her muscles began to relax as she described the soothing effects of a Jacuzzi.
"Are you saying you didn't like the pool of water we found yesterday?” he asked.
She could tell by the chuckle rumbling his chest beneath her ear he was teasing. “That was heaven. There was nothing more I wanted at that precise moment in time.” Lila leaned back so she could give him a flirting gaze. “I still don't know why you didn't want to go skinny-dipping together. I told you in the future—"
"Yeah, I know,” he interrupted, “groups as large as ten and twenty do it together in the future.” He pressed her head back into his chest. “Like I said, I like the eighteen hundreds just fine."
The slow, steady sway of the horse, and the solid, protective body holding her, lulled her like a porch swing. Covering a yawn, she mumbled, “I think I might take a nap."
Her sleepy mind believed his lips touched her head before she nodded off, then again it could have been a dream already forming.
Skeeter, on the other hand, wide awake, tightened his hold around the girl in his arms, and for some reason his mind floated back several years, to when he was about ten or so and had found a little bird down by the creek. One of its tiny wings had been broken, and the poor thing had been hobbling about the tall grass, just waiting to be snuffed up by a snake. He'd caught the meadowlark and took it home where Ma helped him splinter the wing. For a couple weeks he'd kept it in a box in his room, fed it smashed up worms and corn mash. Even with a broken wing the little bird had welcomed each new day with a silly song every morning, and would sit upon his shoulder as he went about doing his chores throughout the days.
A knot formed in his throat, like his heart remembered that one specific day and now rose up to choke him just like it had all those years ago. The wing had healed, and he knew he had to let the meadowlark go, everyone had told him the bird belonged in the wild, not in the crate in his room. And he knew they were right, but all the same it hurt, a real deep down hurt, when he let that little bird go. There were still days when he'd see a meadowlark and wonder about the little one he'd had.
He rested his chin on Lila's sun-kissed curls. Would she be like
He laid the cloth across the back of the saddle on her horse. Without a word he tied the reins of his horse together and flipped the loop over the animal's long neck.
She gave him a quizzical look. Surely he wasn't going to ride completely bareback.
He stepped forward and lifted her onto the saddle. Both of her legs hung over one side. “I'll ride behind you for awhile. That way you can sit like this, and perhaps rest a bit.” His hands patted her knees.
Her butt was tremendously sore, and the change of position felt good. “What about your horse?” More than willing to try the new arrangement, she pulled the flip-flops off her feet and hung them on the saddle horn by the bandana wrapped thongs.
"He'll follow."
"I wish you lived in two-thousand-eight,” she admitted.
Skeeter laughed, climbing up behind her. “After all the things you've told me, I have to admit, I like the eighteen hundreds just fine."
He settled in and reached around to take the reins. Lila let her head rest against his chest. “I think I must have only told you about the bad things. There are some wonderful modern conveniences."
His free hand massaged her bare shoulder and arm, the rough skin of his fingertips lightly scratched the area. The action made her close her eyes, and a sigh of pleasure emptied her lungs.
"Why don't you tell me about some of them as we ride the last few miles?” he asked.
"Hmm, let's see, oh, I know. Many people have what we call hot tubs or whirlpools. They are big bath tubs that two, three, even as many as ten people can sit in all at the same time, and hot, bubbling water swirls around, easing all the aches and pains from your body.” Her muscles began to relax as she described the soothing effects of a Jacuzzi.
"Are you saying you didn't like the pool of water we found yesterday?” he asked.
She could tell by the chuckle rumbling his chest beneath her ear he was teasing. “That was heaven. There was nothing more I wanted at that precise moment in time.” Lila leaned back so she could give him a flirting gaze. “I still don't know why you didn't want to go skinny-dipping together. I told you in the future—"
"Yeah, I know,” he interrupted, “groups as large as ten and twenty do it together in the future.” He pressed her head back into his chest. “Like I said, I like the eighteen hundreds just fine."
The slow, steady sway of the horse, and the solid, protective body holding her, lulled her like a porch swing. Covering a yawn, she mumbled, “I think I might take a nap."
Her sleepy mind believed his lips touched her head before she nodded off, then again it could have been a dream already forming.
Skeeter, on the other hand, wide awake, tightened his hold around the girl in his arms, and for some reason his mind floated back several years, to when he was about ten or so and had found a little bird down by the creek. One of its tiny wings had been broken, and the poor thing had been hobbling about the tall grass, just waiting to be snuffed up by a snake. He'd caught the meadowlark and took it home where Ma helped him splinter the wing. For a couple weeks he'd kept it in a box in his room, fed it smashed up worms and corn mash. Even with a broken wing the little bird had welcomed each new day with a silly song every morning, and would sit upon his shoulder as he went about doing his chores throughout the days.
A knot formed in his throat, like his heart remembered that one specific day and now rose up to choke him just like it had all those years ago. The wing had healed, and he knew he had to let the meadowlark go, everyone had told him the bird belonged in the wild, not in the crate in his room. And he knew they were right, but all the same it hurt, a real deep down hurt, when he let that little bird go. There were still days when he'd see a meadowlark and wonder about the little one he'd had.
He rested his chin on Lila's sun-kissed curls. Would she be like
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